Taxi Driver Online

If the Law Commission are asking the Gov to set minimum standards for taxis, then how are they going to do that without making every taxi a WAV?

There was part of me that expected the PH standard to be WAV, but on reading the report it seems not.

However I think it can only be 100% WAVs for my taxi friends.

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IDFIMH

I thought the taxi standards would be at least that of the ph and if that is the case then some will still be saloons, won't they

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

You have misread it Mr Sussex.

I will drag it out and highlight it later.

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Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

My point is that if they have minimum standards, then that will change from what we have now in many areas i.e. some allowed to license saloons whilst others are told WAV.

Unless they come up with the answer to the question who decided who licenses saloons and who licenses WAVs.

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IDFIMH

I would hope taxi standards are at least on a par with PH standards.

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IDFIMH

I shouldn't think they'll be less but who knows with this lot

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

From what I've read they're just going to leave taxi quality largely as it is and decided by LAs, so the current mish mash stays, as presumably amended by the Equality Act.

But as I said in the other thread, PH will be reduced to bog standard, and taxis could be the same or higher, but not lower.

Thus essentially you'll get London minicab regulation throughout the country for the PH sector, but you could have something similar to the Knowledge of London for taxis in provincial cities if councillors so wish.

Thus in essence the likes of the Brighton taxi trade could carry on as it is - with a mixed fleet, with the derestriction meaning more WAVs rather than saloons, presumably - but PH will be dumbed down to the bog standard.

As long as the saloon taxi standard is at least the same or more stringent than the PH standard then that would be consistent with what the LC wants, and that would also accomodate mixed fleets?

But of course there would be no knowledge for PH, but the taxi knowledge could remain.

Given that the LC has mentioned European law I find it difficult to believe they will contine down the illegal route of forcing the SAME license holders to purchase a WAV and others not, within the same city.

This goes against all European competition laws.

So in summary minimum standard for HAC will be WAV. PH bog standard.

They also propose seperate rules and possibly status for wav's i.e. possibly wav's only on taxi ranks but saloon hackneys still allowed to take flag downs that would "solve" the problem by creating a 3 tier system in effect nothing like simplifying eh !

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I see any new act as saying a taxi will be defined as X.

I can't see any new act defining a taxi as meaning X for some and Y for others.

Well at least I hope it doesn't happen.

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IDFIMH

Why Complicate things...a Simple Grade 1 Taxi (Wav) and a Grade 2 Taxi (Non Wav) which can do exactly the same type of work as each other but with the WAV being 30% Cheaper to Licence and Tax as an incentive to buy.

And Finally, PH for those that prefer Style and comfort over Instant availability

No chance of road fund license change, to costly to implement.
Cheaper local license, again illegal, anti competitive. You can't have one side of a trade providing subsidies for another.

I agree there needs to be some sort of incentive for drivers to spend the extra money on a wav

My suggestion would be

Grade 1 Wav's up to 8 seats with lower fees reflecting the investment made and perhaps some loading and unloading priveledges when transporting disabled passengers
Grade 2 saloon taxis limited to a maximum of 5 or 6 seats but with normal hackney rights
Grade 3 PH including smaller limo's and novelty vehicles

I would suggest also that if basic national rules applied that perhaps specifications for the size and quality of the vehicles could be included in the definitions

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

You don't need incentives, simple you want HAC?.... its a WAV if you don't, PH.
As I have already pointed out you can't legally ask a portion of the trade to subsidise another, that would be deemed anti competitive.

The most important people in this are customers who do not like WAV's so to actually provide the market with what it actually wants which is a 95% saloon car hackney/ph fleet you need a mixed fleet with a SMALL percentage of WAV's to cater for the disabled market.

Making Hackneys all WAV is bad for the large numbers of pensioners and other people with impaired mobility who cannot climb into a WAV and these are our bread and butter in many areas

The point is that if you give drivers the choice very few will opt for the much higher priced wav's which offer a much poorer return on investment a balance is needed and that requires some sort of market intervention

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector